Many Voters Still Angry at Democrats, Republicans

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 29) -- Many voters remain disenchanted with the Republcans and Democrats, but also appear to be more skeptical about the chances that a viable third party will emerge.

That's the view of pollster Gordon Black, who says 22
percent of voters are "core supporters" of a new party, down from 26 percent four years ago. The percentage of voters angry at both parties stands at 46 percent, down 10 percentage points from May 1992.

About two-thirds of voters are alienated from the parties, Black said. "The two political parties appear to have gone out to the extremes, the Republicans out on the right and the Democrats out on the left, and it's left the bulk of the voters, which most Americans are, the moderates, without a political party today," he said in an interview with CNN's Gene Randall on "Inside Politics."

Black, who polled for Texas billionaire Ross Perot four years ago, said Perot is a less attractive candidate for voters interested in the third-party cause. His vote has dropped from about 20 percentage points to 15 percentage points since the first of the year.

"Right now, Perot is actually weaker in some respects than the third-party movement itself," Black said.

Black said numbers suggest that Perot is pulling more voters from Clinton than from Dole. Perot has gotten weaker among college-educated people, he said.

The Louis Harris and Associates firm did the survey, which has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

In the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll, President Bill Clinton is maintaining a sizable lead over Republican Robert Dole in a voter preference survey.

The latest numbers, based on interviews with 1,001 adults, including 827 registered voters, show 58 percent support Clinton, while 37 percent favor Dole. The sampling error is +/-4 percentage points.

The numbers compare with a 57 percent-40 percent split in early April. The president's approval rating was also up slightly, from 54 percent in early April to 56 percent now.